Friday, November 4, 2011

Fritz Hug

It's always fun to discover artists who know how to draw and paint animals well. 
Fritz Hug is one of the best in my opinion. There is a sense of caricature in his work which brings out the essence of the animal. I love his looseness combined with anatomical accuracy.
A little while ago I purchased a few books featuring his work, and I have been looking through them regularly.
One thing is for sure, this man really loved animals.

Fritz Hug was born in 1921 in Dornach near Solothurn, Switzerland and spent part of his childhood in Java.  His art studies took him to many different regions of Europe as well as to Africa. While in Africa in 1950-51 he worked with Dr. Albert Schweitzer at the Lambarene Hospital in Gabon.

From 1967 until his death in 1989, Fritz Hug produced a number of works on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund, showing endangered species of wild animals and birds.
















27 comments:

  1. I think Fritz Hug is my favorite of the artists you have showed us. These are just beautiful, and I can see the action and motion in every drawing extremely well. The feeding deer is my favorite, the fawn's eye and everything about it is like he took a snapshot of the event.

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  2. Wow I love the paintwork on the pictures. Despite clearly being paint, splatters and all, it somehow feels like fur!

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  3. ich schreib mal auf deutsch:-)...einfach umwerfende Zeichnungen-sehr inspirierend!!!

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  4. Such life to these drawings. Thanks for turning us onto him.

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  5. Wow! These are spectacular.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I am now following you!!!
    your blog is delicious!!!

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  7. Absolutely amazing! I've seen one of his drawings before and was dying to find more but much like Jouve he is almost impossible to come by outside of Europe. Thank you so much for posting these!

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  8. I didn't know Fritz Hug before! His work is really amazing!

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  9. Amazing! Im curious to know what book you had with his work? Im always on the look out for good art books, do you have any recommendations?

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  10. The amazing thing is he gives each animal real personality.

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  11. Beautiful work! I love the one of the mother and baby dear.

    This is off topic but I wanted to ask you, did you ever have any encounters with the old Warner Bros animators like Chuck Jones?

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  12. Lauren,
    go to Abebooks and search Fritz Hug. There are beautiful coffetable books, storybooks and sketchbooks with his art.
    You can order them right there.

    David,
    I did get to meet and talk to Chuck Jones on a few occasions. In the late eighties he invited me and a few other Disney to his house for an afternoon. We had a wonderful time. I am a huge Chuck Jones fan.
    I also met Ken Harris many years ago in London, when he was working for Dick Williams on the "Thief". We took him out for a Chinese lunch. When he was holding his fork, you could see his hand was a little shaky. (Ken had just turned 80).
    But....back at the drawing board at the studio, no shaking whatsoever. That same hand produced beautiful confident drawings. It was amazing to watch.

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  13. Andreas,

    I just LOVE your blog!! Thank you so much for sharing such amazing artwork with all of us. As an animation student, it's truly inspiring.

    Fritz Hug's drawings are amazing!!!!

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  14. These are out of this world!! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  15. Are the pictures seen here from the books you mentioned or do you actually own the paintings? Also, are they paintings, lithographs, or drawings? I have seen quite a few of his lithographs online but only one of the ones that were for sale or up for auction that had a starting price. They wanted $300 to start. I wondered what his oil on canvas paintings would sell for these days, if you know.

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  16. Hey thanks for posting this!
    I just got a painting that's been in my family as long as I can remember and I'm trying to find out about it. Apparently it's part of this series: 5th photo down, the leopard. Would you happen to know what it's called? Or the medium? It looks like oil on canvas, but I don't know that much about art.

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  17. I have two original canvas of his I'm trying to sale. Any idea on asking price to startbid

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  18. Mr. Fritz Hug is my fathers first cousin. His dad stayed in Europe and my grandfather migrated to the USA. My father was an amateur artist who's style was the same as Fritz's and when my father passed away I happened to pay more attention to his DL signature and couldn't believe it; both Fritz's and my dad's signatures were identical.
    Love his work, wish I could have met him.

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  19. I found a hug painting of a mule, size 30x40 it seems printed to me but very old.wondering about the value?
    Any comments appreciated.
    Printed in NYNY.

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  20. I bought two print/paintings by Fritz Hug in North Carolina. I don't know if they are prints or painting. Can anyone help me? One is a camel & the other is a koala. I have never seen them on the internet.

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